Catering company feeds the masses in San Antonio

July 16, 2015Updated: July 16, 2015 5:00pm

Other than the military, perhaps no one has served more meals in San Antonio over the past 70 years than Rosemary Kowalski.

Founder of what is today known as The RK Group, Kowalski all but invented large-event catering here, feeding countless conventioneers, numerous government officials, plenty of royalty and one VIP (Very Important Pope). And it all began in a nondescript barbecue joint on the West Side.

Born Sept. 27, 1924, Rosemary Hughes had a happy childhood. An only child growing up on the South Side, she concedes she was “very spoiled.” Although her parents were not overly religious, they paid the $3 monthly tuition to send her to Blessed Sacrament Academy on Mission Road. Later, she graduated from Incarnate Word High School.

While attending a cadet dance, she met Henry Kowalski, who was training to be a pilot. He eventually served in the China-Burma-Indonesia theater, flying C-47 military transports that dropped supplies to troops on the ground.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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Rosemary Kowalski poses by paintings by Jesse Treviño artwork at the RK Group offices at 1220 East Commerce.

Rosemary Kowalski poses by paintings by Jesse Treviño artwork at the RK Group offices at 1220 East Commerce.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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Rosemary Kowalski’s first business, a barbecue restaurant, is depicted in paintings by Jesse Treviño that hang at the RK Group offices.

Rosemary Kowalski’s first business, a barbecue restaurant, is depicted in paintings by Jesse Treviño that hang at the RK Group offices.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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Rosemary Kowalski’s first business, a barbecue restaurant, is depicted in paintings by Jesse Treviño that hang at the RK Group offices.

Rosemary Kowalski’s first business, a barbecue restaurant, is depicted in paintings by Jesse Treviño that hang at the RK Group offices.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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Rosemary Kowalski poses with her grandson, Travis Kowalski, left, and her son, Greg Kowalski, at the RK Group offices.

Rosemary Kowalski poses with her grandson, Travis Kowalski, left, and her son, Greg Kowalski, at the RK Group offices.

Photo: JERRY LARA /San Antonio Express-News

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Rosemary Kowalski (right) poses with four unidentified women during HemisFair in 1968.

Rosemary Kowalski (right) poses with four unidentified women during HemisFair in 1968.

Photo: Courtesy / Rosemary Kowalski

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Rosemary Kowalski meets with First Lady Barbara Bush in 1990.

Rosemary Kowalski meets with First Lady Barbara Bush in 1990.

Photo: Courtesy / Rosemary Kowalski

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Rosemary Kowalski meets with President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan in 1985.

Rosemary Kowalski meets with President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan in 1985.

Photo: Courtesy / Rosemary Kowalski

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Catering executive Rosemary Kowalski meets with the pope during his 1987 visit. She was chosen to serve him breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Catering executive Rosemary Kowalski meets with the pope during his 1987 visit. She was chosen to serve him breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Photo: CourtesyRosemary Kowalski

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Rosemary Kowalski serves a table of customers at Uncle Ben's Bar-B-Que in September 1947.

Rosemary Kowalski serves a table of customers at Uncle Ben's Bar-B-Que in September 1947.

Photo: Courtesy / Rosemary Kowalski

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In 1946, Rosemary Kowalski (second from left) and her husband Henry (second from right) serve customers in their barbecue restaurant Uncle Ben's. Also pictured are Henry Kowalski's parents Virginia and William (center) and customers (from left) Bruce Barcellona and husband and wife "Red" and Mary Jane Smith. less

In 1946, Rosemary Kowalski (second from left) and her husband Henry (second from right) serve customers in their barbecue restaurant Uncle Ben's. Also pictured are Henry Kowalski's parents Virginia and William ... more

Photo: Courtesy / Rosemary Kowalski

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Rosemary and Henry Kowalski pose with their first employee, Dorothy Logan, in front of Uncle Ben's Bar-B-Que in 1946

Rosemary and Henry Kowalski pose with their first employee, Dorothy Logan, in front of Uncle Ben's Bar-B-Que in 1946

Photo: Courtesy / Rosemary Kowalski

Catering company feeds the masses in San Antonio

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The couple married shortly after the war and, in 1946, they took $9,500 of his $10,000 mustering-out pay to purchase a small restaurant called Uncle Ben’s Bar-B-Que on North Zarzamora Street.

“The rent on the building was $35 a month, so we started the business with about $500,” she recalls. “I didn’t know how to boil water, but we served plenty of barbecue and lots of beer for 25 cents a bottle.”

One day a customer asked if she’d do the catering for his church bazaar.

“Sure,” she answered. “But what does ‘catering’ mean?”

She learned quickly. Her company, dubbed Catering by Rosemary in 1961, would become San Antonio’s go-to source for to-go meals.

Some of the company’s more memorable catering events included the opening of North Star Mall in 1960; a party for 15,000 hosted by Dolph Briscoe (who would later serve six years as Texas governor) to celebrate the renovation of the First State Bank of Uvalde building; the Southern Governor’s Conference in 1969; a private party for President Richard M. Nixon in 1972 and a luncheon for Britain’s Prince Charles and 1,000 others in Villita Assembly Building in 1986.

During HemisFair, the company catered 90 percent of the VIP dinners for international dignitaries. And in 1987, Kowalski prepared breakfast for one: Pope John Paul II on his last morning in San Antonio.

“We made all his meals in the Assumption Seminary, where he stayed in Archbishop Flores’ bedroom while the Archbishop slept in the utility room,” she said. “We didn’t leave there for 36 hours.”

Not all the company’s catering events have gone flawlessly, of course. She enjoys telling the story of two separate events that went awry. Together she calls them “Fire and No Ice.”

In the first, while employees were preparing food for an outdoor wedding reception on a plateau in West Texas, an open flame started a fire, eventually burning 2,000 acres.

Another time, during a large event at the Convention Center, someone inadvertently left the doors to a freezer truck open and 1,500 serving dishes of ice cream melted into 1,500 puddles.

“We served it anyway and the guests drank it,” she said.

Throughout her career, Kowalski made an effort to reach out to all parts of the city. She is friendly with artist Jesse Treviño, and two of his original painting hang in the company offices on the near East Side. One shows the exterior of their original Uncle Ben’s Bar-B-Que restaurant; the other is an interior view of the restaurant showing Kowalski and her husband, Henry, her in-laws and several customers.

For four years, Kowalski served as president of the Japan-American Society of San Antonio. and she is close to the Cortez family of Mi Tierra fame. So close, in fact, they call her their madrina, which translates to godmother, or even second parent. She is the only Anglo to appear in the large mural that famously covers one wall of the popular restaurant.

“She has been a mentor to me and my children,” said Jorge Cortez, president of MTC Inc., the parent company that runs the family’s business interests. “Her spirit is very godly, very wonderful, helping and living. We have been blessed by that lady.”

In 1989, the private, closely held company was renamed the RK Group. Rosemary’s son Greg took the reins in 1993. Now the president and CEO (Rosemary retains the title chairman emeritus), he has led the company’s expansion beyond San Antonio, opening stand-alone restaurants in Galveston, Austin and Houston. The RK Culinary Group also recently won a 10-year extension of the catering and concession contract for the Convention Center, something it has held since 1972.

And the company and its subsidiaries also offer soup-to-nuts event services, including equipment rentals, floral and lighting design, props and sets and destination management.

And all while still offering soup to nuts … and chicken and prime rib and pecan pie and …